The beginning of the annual liturgical cycle (indiction) falls on this day, according to the Julian calendar. Christians have good reasons not to be pleased with Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305) for all the torture and persecution he inflicted upon our forefathers. Diocletian can be compared to Holy Prince Vladimir during the first, pagan, period of his life, when he started a xenophobic Christian persecution to unify the populace. The difference between the two is that for Diocletian, there was no second period. He never repented or converted. However, the paradox is that without Diocletian’s state reforms, we would not have Emperor Constantine the Great as we know him. Structural changes followed the army’s proclamation of Diocles (as he then was), the chief of Pretorian guards, as emperor. Times of crisis require a single rule. One of the reforms was assigning a five-year cycle for what used to be “indicated” as extraordinary taxation. From here, we have the Latinized Greek word “indication.” Emperor St. Constantine extended this cycle to fifteen years. “Because the fiscal and calendar year coincided (1 Sept.-31 Aug.), the word indiction acquired a chronological meaning that it kept after losing its fiscal one: it indicated one year in within the 15-year cycle, without specifying which cycle” (N.O., “Indiction,” Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, v. 2). The Eastern Romans needed a unified way of tracking the beginning of the new year. Therefore, the liturgical tradition marked September 1 as the beginning of the indiction rather than the new year. Some Byzantine sources celebrated it on the feast of the conception of St. John the Baptist by the Righteous Elisabeth (September 23). However, since the reading of the day marks “the year of the Lord's favor” (Luke 4:16-22) – the beginning of Christ’s kerygma (proclamation) – it became common to call this day the beginning of the ecclesiastical new year. Source: P.V. Kuzenkov, Indikt [Indiction], Pravolsavnaia Entsiklopedia [Orthodox Encyclopedia] A Stichera from "O Lord I have Cried," Tone 1Having learned the divine doctrine of prayer from Christ himself, every day let us cry out to the Creator: Our Father, Who dwellest in the heavens, give us our daily bread, overlooking our transgressions. O Christ God, Who once on Mount Sinai didst inscribe the tablets, now in the flesh in the city of Nazareth Thou hast Thyself received the book of the prophet to read of God, and closing it, Thou hast taught the people that the Scripture hath been fulfilled in Thee. (Modified by Walker R. Thompson) Самословнаго и божественнаго ученія Христова, молитвѣ научившеся, на всякъ день возопіимъ Зиждителю: Отче нашъ, Иже на небесѣхъ обитаяй, насущный хлѣбъ подавай намъ, презирая наша прегрѣшенія. Иже на Синайстѣй горѣ скрижали написавъ иногда, Самъ и нынѣ во градѣ Назаретѣ по плоти, книгу пріялъ еси пророческую почести, Христе Боже, и сію согнувъ, училъ еси люди, исполнитися Писанію о Тебѣ. Τῆς αὐτολέκτου καὶ θείας διδασκαλίας Χριστοῦ, τὴν προσευχὴν μαθόντες, καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, βοήσωμεν τῷ Κτίστῃ· Πάτερ ἡμῶν, ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς κατοικῶν, τὸν ἐπιούσιον ἄρτον δίδου ἡμῖν, παρορῶν ἡμῶν τὰ πταίσματα. Ὁ ἐν Σιναίῳ τῷ ὄρει τὰς πλάκας γράψας ποτέ, αὐτὸς καὶ νῦν ἐν πόλει, Ναζαρὲτ κατὰ σάρκα, βιβλίον κατεδέξω προφητικόν, ἀναγνῶναι Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός· καὶ τοῦτο πτύξας ἐδίδασκες τοὺς λαούς, πεπληρῶσθαι τὴν Γραφὴν ἐπὶ σοί. |
